1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wire harness in which both ends of a plurality of parallel electrical wires are respectively connected to connectors with pressure. Also, the present invention relates to a pressure-connecting and wiring machine by which the above manufacturing method can be carried out.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical units incorporated into an automobile are electrically connected to each other by a wire harness. For example, as shown in FIG. 19, this wire harness is composed in such a manner that two connectors C are connected to each other by electrical wires F. In FIG. 19, there is shown a subassembly W, the electrical wires of which are temporarily bundled up, and this subassembly W is referred to as a wire harness W in a broad sense. When the electrical wires of this subassembly are bundled up into a final predetermined shape, the wire harness W can be manufactured.
In general, in the wire harness W, the electrical wire F is connected to the connector C in such a manner that a terminal is crimped to an end of the electrical wire and then inserted into a cavity formed in the connector C. However, when the above crimping-connection is conducted, it is necessary to provide a large number of manufacturing processes. Therefore, when the wire harness is manufactured recently, as shown in FIG. 20, the method of pressure-connection, the number of manufacturing processes of which is small, is adopted to connect the electrical wire F to the connector C.
In general, this connection with pressure (referred to as pressure-connection hereinafter) is conducted by a pressure-connecting and wiring machine into which a plurality of electrical wires are introduced and these electrical wires F are introduced into an electrical wire pressure-connecting section via an electrical wire cutting section, so that the electrical wires can be connected to a connector with pressure. In the pressure-connecting and wiring machine, the electrical wire F, the outer diameter of which is a little larger than the groove width of the pressure-terminal of the connector C, is pushed into the groove (U-slot) of the pressure-terminal of the connector C, and the electrical wire is fixed in the groove by the action of spring-back of the pressure-terminal. At this time, not only the electrical wire F is fixed, but also the cover of the electrical wire is torn by the inner wall of the groove when the electrical wire F is pushed into the groove, so that the conductor of the electrical wire is contacted with the inner wall of the terminal for electrical communication (shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 in the embodiment).
As shown in FIG. 20, in the above pressure-connection, there are provided connectors C at both ends of the electrical wires F, and pressure-terminal sections of both connectors C are opposed to each other. Since a direction of the electrical wire to be drawn out to the electrical wire pressure-connecting section of the pressure-connecting and wiring machine is constant, when the connectors C are located in such a manner that the pressure-terminals of both connectors are opposed to each other as shown in FIG. 20, that is, when directions of both connectors are different from each other, it is possible to conduct a pressure-connecting and wiring motion by moving the pressure-connecting and wiring machine linearly from one connector C to the other connector C.
However, in order to arrange the connectors C in the different directions as described above, the connector arranging work becomes complicated, and it becomes difficult to adopt a robot to conduct this connecting work. Further, when the electrical wires F provided between both connectors C, C are handled, problems may be caused, because the connectors C are conveyed in the central axial direction in many cases, that is, the connectors C are conveyed in the transverse direction in FIG. 20, and it is difficult to ensure a space for accumulating the electrical wires F between the connectors C.